Developed from customer request, the new Jasset monitoring system expands Leica’s Jigsaw fleet management solution to encompass all equipment activity and status onsite, including that of supervisor vehicles, lighting plants and even portable toilets.
Not only does this save users from engaging in wasteful patrols, it also gives them an all-round and timely window of the mine site, boosting their decision-making power.
“By understanding where these assets are, what they are doing and when they are being used the operation of these assets can be optimised, increasing the productivity of these assets and increasing the safety by displaying the location of these on all mining vehicles,” Leica Geosystems Mining chief innovation officer for operations Matt Desmond said.
The system is fully integrated into the Jigsaw solution and is run by the same Jmineops software.
This means all assets are displayed on operators’ machine interfaces and controlled from a central interface, which is used to administer all mine operations activities.
“Having an integrated solution leads to increased functionality leveraging from the Mine Management System, increased safety by displaying all the assets in every mobile piece of equipment, and reduced training and support as there is only one system to learn,” Desmond said.
Leica’s Jasset can be placed on each asset users wish to monitor. The device has a GPS antenna and a communication device (either WiFi or 4G or both) and transmits information on the location of the device in real-time to a central office for monitoring and reporting.
As most mine management solutions rely on WiFi communication in certain parts of their operation, Desmond said having a solution which could work with multiple communication technologies was an advantage.
Jasset is made for mining and therefore has a rugged and robust design that is IP67 rated to withstand harsh environmental conditions and a wide temperature range on a daily basis. Jasset is also fitted with an accelerometer to detect movement and shock.
The device is compatible with a host of interfacing capabilities allowing it to communicate with a variety of asset sub-systems, including digital I/O, Serial, CAN and Ethernet interfaces.
“We had many customer requests looking for a system which was integrated with our fleet management system but could track other assets on site and benefit from the existing functionality to track monitor and optimise the use of site equipment,” Desmond said.
“The product was designed directly from customer feedback so it meets the needs of what they were looking for. We have had very positive feedback from our customers.”
